Proposed Edmonton recovery centre aims to give lung transplant patients financial breathing room

When doctors told Karen Ganong she needed a dou‐ ble lung transplant she thought they had the wrong person.

What started as a cough in April last year, resulted in several hospital visits and respiratory failure.

Ganong has since been di‐ agnosed with interstitial lung disease.

From Airdrie, she and her husband Fred have been in Edmonton for three weeks undergoing lung boot camp to strengthen Ganong's con‐ dition before her transplant.

Alongside the stress about her health, they say finding a way to afford sec‐ ondary accommodation has taken a toll.

"Sometimes you wonder, are we going to be able to continue to afford this? Do I give up and just die?" she said.

"Just the stress and the anxiety is just beyond what anybody should have to sus‐ tain."

Alberta Lung hopes to provide support financially and emotionally with a pro‐ posed living facility for pa‐ tients and families awaiting a transplant.

Breathing Space is de‐ signed to not only put a roof over people's heads, but cre‐ ate gathering spaces for community and family sup‐ port.

"They need that support, whether it's mental health or just a community, a coffee chat with another family going through the same thing," Leigh Allard, president and CEO of Alberta Lung told CBC's Radio Active on Mon‐ day.

Alberta Lung has already secured the land for the project and hopes to break ground next year.

Allard said while they have done some fundraising, additional financial support from government and the community is required to complete the $50 million project.

The University of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton is one of only four places in Canada to get a lung transplant.

The city serves the largest geographical area in North America for lung transplants including Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Northwest Territories, and Northern British Columbia, according to Alberta Lung.

Experiences like Ganongs are unfortunately not un‐ common, Allard said - espe‐ cially for those coming out of town, as patients are respon‐ sible for finding their own ac‐ commodation.

"They're just living like normal Canadians, Albertans. And then they have this ad‐ ded burden that's out-ofpocket expenses for housing, for food, parking, extra med‐ ications, et cetera."

"It's quite burdensome for folks not just financially but emotionally and mentally."

Because patients go through a four-week boot camp, don't have an exact timeline for their transplant date, and need a minimum of three months to recover in Edmonton, the cost can run anywhere from a few thou‐ sand dollars to up to $100,000, she said.

As for Ganong, when asked what a space like this would mean for patients like her, she said it would be lifechanging.

"Without the added bur‐ den of the financial accom‐ modations, it would just be amazing," she said. "It would be safe and close and re‐ sources would be there for any education that we needed."

She hopes that with new lungs, she will be able to get back to what she loves cooking with her grandchil‐ dren.